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Cowan will become the second sitting African-American member in the Senate.

The race to permanently fill the seat will most likely pit Republican Scott Brown, who lost last November, against the winner of a Democratic primary. Rep. Ed Markey is running for the Democratic nod and Rep. Stephen Lynch is expected to. The primary is April 30.

“Mo’s service on the front lines in our efforts to manage through the worst economy in 80 years and build a better, stronger Commonwealth for the next generation has earned him the respect and admiration of people throughout government,” Patrick said in a statement.

Patrick’s move is a rejection of Barney Frank, the outspoken longtime congressman who made public his desire to get the appointment. There was also some speculation that Vicki Kennedy, Ted’s widow, might get the temporary job.

Cowan expects to be sworn in early next week and intends to keep Kerry’s staff. He pledged that there is “not going to be any daylight” between him and the Patrick administration.

The senator-designate also stressed that “this is going to be a very short political career.”

“I am not running for office,” he said, “at any time today or in the future.”

Cowan has continued to serve Patrick as a senior adviser since stepping down as chief of staff. He was poised to re-enter private practice, something he will now postpone until the summer. Before becoming chief, he was the governor’s legal counsel. And before that, he worked at the top-drawer law firm Mintz Levin. He chaired the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance and Counseling practice group there, according to his résumé on LinkedIn, working with the White Collar Defense group. He also worked a stint as a special assistant district attorney in office of the Middlesex County District Attorney.

“He grew up in a largely segregated tobacco town in rural North Carolina, the son of a machinist and a seamstress,” according to a 2010 Boston Globe profile. “As a boy, he watched the Ku Klux Klan burn a cross in town, march on his high school and hand out literature on Main Street.”

Patrick called Cowan “a highly respected public citizen” and “an affirmation of the American dream” at a 20-minute news conference to unveil the announcement.